Power BI Visualization
Best Practices
Overview
Power BI is an interactive data visualization tool administered and maintained by ITSO. The following example report is available on a separate page in a larger display. View example report.
- tools iconEmbedding Power BI ReportsSee instructions for using the WCMS to embed Power BI visualizations in TP4 web pages.
- question circle iconTP4 Hexadecimal Color ValuesSee hex values for main and accent theme colors in TP4.
Resources
Getting help: Content owners and WCMS web developers should review the recommendations and limitations below. For information on getting started with Power BI, see OCIO’s Power BI site. Note that Power BI is administered by ITSO; DMB cannot provide support in the development of Power BI visualizations. View Power BI support contacts. (The links in this section are to CDC internal content and require logging into the CDC network.)
Publishing access: In order to publish a Power BI data visualization to CDC.gov, one must have “Publish to the Web” rights. ITSO grants these permissions. They will work with DMB to provide “Publish to the Web” rights to two POCs from each CIO. If you need to know who from your CIO can publish to the web, please reach out to your WCMS POC.
For information on embedding a published Power BI report in a TP4 page using the WCMS, see the Features Gallery topic “Embedding Power BI Reports.”
Recommendations
- Use TP4 (Template Package 4) main and accent theme colors in your Power BI data visualizations. See the Hexadecimal Color Values.
- Power BI does not support a mobile layout, so it is important to test every data visualization thoroughly in mobile viewports to ensure it displays as intended. Keep in mind that over half of CDC.gov visitors access the site via a mobile device.
- Ensure that every data visualization complies with Section 508. If you have questions, please reach out to your 508 Web Approving Official or the CDC 508 help desk. (Note that the some links in this topic are internal to the CDC and require logging into the CDC network.)
Limitations
Keep in mind the following constraints when working with Power BI in TP4:
- Power BI documents do not adhere to responsive-design principles. They scale to fit the window with pinch and zoom adjustments (so large reports become much smaller), but the visualization elements do not automatically stack or reposition themselves to the window size.
- Power BI does not support the template web fonts (e.g., Open Sans, Merriweather).
- You cannot remove the gray bar at the bottom of the visual or the extra white space at the top.